President Hakainde Hichilema has directed the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) and the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to urgently resolve the challenges being reported in their respective operations.
President Hichilema expressed his dissatisfaction over the DMMU’s reported inefficiency in relief food distribution to the drought-affected areas around the country.
“I’m not happy about the distribution of food. I’m not happy about the way we are managing the grain back at the buying depots. We can do better,” President Hichilema said.
“I do get feedback. I sat with the chiefs and they gave me feedback and I have suggested that after today, we must checklist the challenges that we are faced with and resolve them.”
The President directed the DMMU to enhance the process of providing food to the affected communities, which would also reduce the cost of carrying out the ongoing relief programme.
Mr. Hichilema also issued a directive to the FRA to expedite the payment of funds owed to local farmers who supply maize to the agency.
“One of the messages that came to me is that we are not paying our farmers on time even though we have changed the system from what it was before we came in office. For six months, people never got paid and now people should get paid on time. Because of the drought, we need to mop up all the available maize.”
“We pay for the maize and I’d like us to pay Zambian farmers before we pay for the imports. That makes sense so that we put money in the economy. That is a directive I’m issuing,” he said.
President Hichilema also highlighted his government’s vision to enhance the country’s maize productivity ahead of the new farming season.
“What we want is not to import maize, what we want is to produce enough and have excess to export. That is our agenda and we must achieve that goal.”
He was speaking yesterday when he officiated at the launch of the Tennor and Amatheon Farm for Agricultural Expansion in Mumbwa District of Central Province.
